Today, social platforms aren’t just where people scroll. They’re where purchasing decisions are made, trust is built, and brands compete for attention.
More than half the world’s population uses social media, and for startups, this presents an opportunity: to reach early adopters, capture market signals, and reduce customer acquisition costs.
Social ads allow you to bypass slow organic reach and target the exact audience segments most likely to convert, whether you’re pre-launch or already scaling.
At Take the Stairs, we’ve worked with growth-stage startups, venture-backed founders, and first-time teams to build paid social systems that support product launches, fundraising rounds, and long-term retention.
This guide breaks down the key elements of social advertising so you can understand what works, what doesn’t, and how to scale without wasting time or budget.
Why use Take the Stairs for social media ads?
We are always transparent
You deserve a partner who is clear about strategy, creative decisions, and budget. We don’t hide behind jargon or vague reports. Instead, we walk you through every part of the process from audience targeting to ad spend so you know exactly what you’re paying for and why it matters. Our invoicing is clear, and our recommendations are tied directly to your goals.
A unique approach
Most paid social ads get ignored. Click-through rates are often under one percent. But if you’re using persona-driven creative that speaks to specific audiences, you’re no longer guessing that you’re aligning content with the problems your potential customers are already thinking about. We help you craft ad campaigns that cut through the noise and generate signal.
Goal-driven efforts
We don’t just run campaigns for the sake of visibility. Everything we do is mapped to an outcome you care about whether that’s lead generation, new signups, product pre-orders, or engagement from your ideal users. When we start working together, we begin with a thorough examination of your product, goals, and sales funnel. From there, every ad decision is designed to support measurable growth.
Do I really need social media advertising for my startup?
You might have a great product. You might be solving a real problem. But if your audience doesn’t know you exist, you’re invisible.
In the early stages of a startup, attention is one of your most valuable currencies. Social media advertising gives you a direct way to earn that attention, test messaging, and generate interest long before organic channels kick in.
It’s not enough to rely on word of mouth or wait for search traffic. If you’re building a go-to-market strategy, paid social can accelerate your learning, give you fast feedback, and drive early conversions.
The shift from traditional to digital advertising has already happened. Businesses now spend more on digital ads than TV, radio, and print combined. Among digital options, social media stands out because of its targeting power. You’re not paying to be seen by everyone. You’re paying to be seen by the people most likely to become your users.
For founders trying to increase traction, validate a feature, or break into a new market, social media advertising is one of the lowest-cost ways to get in front of the right people at the right time.
Paid social ads give you direct access to audiences that match your ideal customer profiles. In 2023, nearly 29% of internet users reported discovering new brands via social media ads. That kind of exposure can help founders jumpstart lead pipelines while they’re still testing product-market fit.
Targeted paid campaigns also boost website traffic. On average, Facebook traffic campaigns have a click-through rate of about 1.57%—up from 1.51% the year before. For startups working with limited budgets, that kind of efficiency can dramatically lower cost per acquisition.
Social media is a powerful channel for brand discovery. In the U.S., 36.8 million online consumers about 36.8%, made a purchase through social media in 2024. That level of engagement is proof that audiences are looking beyond ads they’re making decisions based on what they see.
One-quarter of global social commerce originated directly from apps in 2023. That means every paid campaign also has the potential to build long-term brand affinity and word-of-mouth even in digital-native demographics.
One of the things that makes well-crafted social media ads from a social media marketing company is so effective is their ability to target specific audiences through selling to specific buyer personas.
We explore persona-based advertising further down, but generally speaking, it’s the idea that people respond more favorably to ads that are specifically relevant to them, rather than generic ads designed to appeal to the widest demographic possible.
Digital agencies in particular, can help you make the most of this marketing technique by tailoring your social media ads and presence to your unique client base.
Social media allows you to engage with your customer base like never before, allowing you to deeply understand their wants and needs.
Around 40% of online shoppers seek out brands through social media, so a strong social media presence can help you stand out to your target audience. Social media advertising packages focused on increasing awareness can help with this.
Increasing brand awareness isn’t enough – you want to make sure that the image your company presents online is a positive one. A social media marketing company, such as Take the Stairs, can help you do this in a number of ways with custom social media advertising packages:
- Present your business as a leader in your industry
- Increase customer engagement, helping people see you as part of the community
- Collect and highlight positive reviews
- Turn negative reviews around with transparent customer service
Social media is a direct connection between your business and consumers, so it’s vital that your online presence shows your company has integrity and is responsive to customer needs.
Nine out of 10 people these days read online reviews before purchasing from a new company, and a social media marketing firm can give you control over what people see when they find your business.
Paid social ads give you direct access to audiences that match your ideal customer profiles. In 2023, nearly 29% of internet users reported discovering new brands via social media ads. That kind of exposure can help founders jumpstart lead pipelines while they’re still testing product-market fit.
Targeted paid campaigns also boost website traffic. On average, Facebook traffic campaigns have a click-through rate of about 1.57%—up from 1.51% the year before. For startups working with limited budgets, that kind of efficiency can dramatically lower cost per acquisition.
Social media is a powerful channel for brand discovery. In the U.S., 36.8 million online consumers about 36.8%, made a purchase through social media in 2024. That level of engagement is proof that audiences are looking beyond ads they’re making decisions based on what they see.
One-quarter of global social commerce originated directly from apps in 2023. That means every paid campaign also has the potential to build long-term brand affinity and word-of-mouth even in digital-native demographics.
One of the things that makes well-crafted social media ads from a social media marketing company is so effective is their ability to target specific audiences through selling to specific buyer personas.
We explore persona-based advertising further down, but generally speaking, it’s the idea that people respond more favorably to ads that are specifically relevant to them, rather than generic ads designed to appeal to the widest demographic possible.
Digital agencies in particular, can help you make the most of this marketing technique by tailoring your social media ads and presence to your unique client base.
Social media allows you to engage with your customer base like never before, allowing you to deeply understand their wants and needs.
Around 40% of online shoppers seek out brands through social media, so a strong social media presence can help you stand out to your target audience. Social media advertising packages focused on increasing awareness can help with this.
Increasing brand awareness isn’t enough – you want to make sure that the image your company presents online is a positive one. A social media marketing company, such as Take the Stairs, can help you do this in a number of ways with custom social media advertising packages:
- Present your business as a leader in your industry
- Increase customer engagement, helping people see you as part of the community
- Collect and highlight positive reviews
- Turn negative reviews around with transparent customer service
Social media is a direct connection between your business and consumers, so it’s vital that your online presence shows your company has integrity and is responsive to customer needs.
Nine out of 10 people these days read online reviews before purchasing from a new company, and a social media marketing firm can give you control over what people see when they find your business.
Elements of a social media ad campaign
Building a high-performing social media ad campaign isn’t just about setting a budget and pressing “publish.” For founders, it’s about turning a noisy, crowded digital space into a clear opportunity to test, validate, and grow. Every part of your campaign, from creative assets to targeting to platform-specific execution, needs to support the outcomes your business cares about.
That could mean lowering CAC during your pre-seed phase, supporting a go-to-market launch, building brand trust ahead of a funding round, or reactivating churned users in a specific persona group.
Startups often operate under tight timelines and tighter budgets, so paid social campaigns need to punch above their weight. The only way that happens is by aligning every campaign element with actual business priorities.
For example, a top-of-funnel campaign might focus on education, aiming to get potential users into your ecosystem. A mid-funnel campaign might highlight traction or social proof to move people toward signup or purchase. A bottom-of-funnel campaign could retarget users who already visited your pricing page, giving them the last nudge to convert.
One of the first components that determines success is your creative. This includes everything: visual images, video, design elements, and branding consistency. It’s the hook that stops the scroll and gets your audience to engage.
Today’s audiences expect high-quality, relevant, and platform-native content. That’s why startup ads that look like organic posts, authentic, clean, and tightly messaged, perform better than traditional, sales-heavy graphics.
Recent studies show video-based ads receive significantly higher engagement than static formats, particularly on mobile-first platforms like TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts. For founders, this means using short, attention-grabbing visuals with real messaging power not relying on product screenshots alone.
The second key element is your ad copy. While creative gets the attention, the copy delivers the message. It explains what you do, why your audience should care, and what they should do next.
Effective copy connects with user intent, it speaks to a need, highlights a pain point, or introduces a solution in plain, conversational terms. Whether you’re asking someone to join a waitlist, book a demo, or take advantage of a time-sensitive promotion, the copy needs to reflect urgency and clarity without over-promising.
For early-stage companies, we often recommend founder-led copywriting in the early phases, then layering on creative copy support once messaging is validated and repeatable.
Another essential part of the campaign is the management layer, the execution infrastructure. This includes setting up ad accounts, creating campaigns, building audiences, choosing placements, launching A/B tests, optimizing spend, and iterating based on results.
It also includes understanding how to align these campaigns with the rest of your marketing mix. For example, a brand might use paid social to support a product hunt launch, reinforce thought leadership posts, or retarget webinar attendees.
Managing these moving parts requires a rhythm of review, learning, and small, strategic pivots. Founders who invest in proper campaign management see faster learning loops and waste less budget on poorly performing placements or mismatched messaging.
A social media profile that posts only sporadically is not going to help your business’s image, so you need to commit to engaging with the platform regularly (or hiring someone else to do so).
Regularly posting on social media, sharing others’ content, and engaging with your audience are all important aspects of your overall social media strategy. But in order to make sure as many of your target customers as possible get to know about your business, you’ll need to post paid ads as well.
Posting ads on social media channels isn’t free, of course, so keep in mind that publisher fees will be a part of your advertising costs. Generally, you’ll choose to pay for ads:
- Per click (known as CPC, or cost-per-click)
- Per 1,000 impressions (known as CPM, or cost-per-mille)
- Per lead
- Per engagement
Digital advertising agencies work with their clients to determine which solution will work best for their campaign and budget.
You’ll also be able to set campaign limits, which will keep you from going over budget. Once your ads reach that limit, they’re paused and don’t cost you anything until you decide to restart them by raising the limit.
Have you ever visited a website, then noticed that company’s ads popping up just about every time you go online? Well, that’s called retargeting, and it’s an incredibly effective marketing technique.
It works on the same principle as an email sales funnel, providing interested buyers with offers that are more and more specific to their interests based on what you learn from their interaction with your site or previous ads.
Retargeting costs less than a traditional pay-per-click search campaign and is more cost-effective, since you’re only paying to display ads to people who have already shown interest.
Adding a retargeting element to your social media advertising strategy can get you as much as 51% more conversions, as well as build greater brand awareness, so it’s a powerful part of any social media advertising campaign.
This lets your startup stay visible while increasing conversion efficiency. If you’re running a SaaS model or high-LTV business, retargeting is one of the smartest ways to maximize each touchpoint.
Finally, every successful social campaign needs structured reporting. Reporting isn’t just about traffic or impressions it’s about translating campaign data into actionable insights that support better decisions.
You want to know which creatives performed best, which messages resonated with each persona, what times and days yielded the highest click-through rates, and how those trends should inform the next campaign cycle.
For early-stage teams, that data can shape not only future ad spend but also product positioning, homepage copy, and even how you talk to investors. A strong reporting system gives you clarity. It eliminates guesswork and helps you scale smarter.
Enter hypertargeted social media advertising
Effective ads don’t speak to everyone—they speak directly to the people most likely to care. Hyper targeted ads allows startups to target precise audience segments with tailored messaging, visuals, and calls to action that align with their goals and pain points.
For founders, persona-based campaigns are a fast way to learn what resonates. Each persona gives you insight into your ideal customer profile, and helps you test different angles, features, or offers at a lower cost.
Platforms like LinkedIn, Meta, and TikTok offer powerful tools to target by job title, industry, behavior, or interests. That means you can run lean campaigns, learn from real-world data, and scale the ones that convert.
At Take the Stairs, we build persona-driven strategies that reduce wasted spend, improve acquisition efficiency, and give founders a clear signal on where growth is coming from.
Social media marketing FAQs
Social media advertising costs vary as they depend on many factors, including the size and scope of the social media advertising package, the location of social media advertising companies, among others.
To give you an idea of what companies might charge, our social media marketing agency charges 20% of the monthly advertising budget to manage social media ads for the month (with a minimum spend of $250).
Yes, when done right. Social ads let you reach early adopters, validate your messaging, and generate demand before you scale your organic channels. Unlike traditional brand awareness campaigns, startup-focused ads are goal-driven—centered on metrics like leads, signups, demos, or purchase events. The key is building a test-and-learn loop: launching small, tracking results, and doubling down on what converts. Founders who treat paid social as an acquisition channel, not just exposure, tend to see stronger results.
Social media advertising is important because it allows businesses of all sizes to reach a wide audience while focusing on specific customer types that are more likely to make a purchase.
Roughly 70% of North Americans use social media, so advertising on these platforms gives businesses the chance to reach a majority of the population. This helps level the playing field a bit. A small startup with a limited advertising budget, for example, has just as much chance of reaching people across the world as a larger corporation does – something virtually unheard of with traditional advertising.
More importantly, the audience businesses reach with persona-based advertising on social media are more likely to buy from your company, rather than wasting advertising money on people who simply aren’t interested and never will be.
It’s absolutely possible to set up social media ads on your own, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ll be effective. When businesses handle their own advertising, they often try to appeal to as many people as possible by watering down their message, instead of focusing on getting the attention of their ideal customer base.
Sometimes it helps to hire a team of experts who can offer an outside eye and help you narrow your focus to those who will be most interested in your services. Good social media marketing companies can help you create a clear picture of your target audience and build an effective ad campaign that will speak directly to their needs.
Advertising packages of social media marketing agencies can generally be customized to your business and budget, so they’re worth looking into before trying to handle it on your own.
Ready to start climbing?
Take control of your business strategy by setting a discovery meeting with Take the Stairs right now.
Schedule a Meeting